AllFreeNovel
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Shouts carry across the pasture—maybe Wyatt, maybe Ford—but I keep my focus on the task in front of me.
The tips of my fingers are bleeding and blackened, but all I can think about is getting the horses out. I wrap my hands around a huge chunk of wood, and bracing one foot on the barn, I pull.
The wood gives.
I tear it away, big enough for a body.
A scream of victory rips out of me when Winslow lurches out like he’s been waiting for me all his life. He comes to my side.
“Good boy,” I sob, stroking him on his withers.
Dizzy, I manage to walk him to the pasture. I tie him up with the other horses and listen for sirens, but there are none.
That’s when I double over into a violent coughing fit. The smoke curls deep into my lungs like gnarled fingers taking root. Panicked, I take large gulps of air. It feels like I can’t get enough oxygen, like my heart is starving.
There’s a clap of thunder and the skies unleash. Rain pours down in earnest.
The rain.
It’ll save us.
Gasping, I straighten up and stand in the darkness, shivering, smoke swirling around me, staring at the ranch that saved my soul this summer. The ranch Charlie and his brothers love. The land that let me live.
Wyatt watches, wide-eyed, hands on his head, as the rest of the barn burns. An insane rush of relief hits me when I spy Charlie, dirty but unharmed, loping out from behind the burning barn.
Blinking back tears, I take a step toward him, but the world spins.
“Oh,” I whisper, licking my dry lips. “Oh, no.”
My entire body thumps. Pulse points. Chest. Temples.
A low-frequency throb fills my ears. Blackness creeps around the edge of my vision.
That’s when I see my mother standing in the pasture.
Mom.
She reaches toward me, one graceful hand outstretched toward my heart. I can hear her whispering to me.Come, come with me. I want to run. I want to screamno. But all I can do is feel my heart race.
This isn’t just a flutter.
This feels different.
Suddenly, I’m so very scared.
I shake my head and turn away, trying harder to breathe, to think a clear thought, to find a way away from my mother’s sight. I grab the tall fence post for balance and gasp for air.
Help. I need to tell someone I need help.
Once again, my vision blurs as I search for Charlie in the smoke.
My cowboy.
The minute my eyes land on him, a sense of calm fills my soul.
Beating or still, my heart belongs to Charlie.
I look up at the stars and inhale one last breath.
